


Unbroken

by merelypassingtime



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25566175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merelypassingtime/pseuds/merelypassingtime
Summary: Clint insists his phone isn’t broken, but it’s not really the phone he’s defensive about.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 6
Kudos: 71





	Unbroken

**Author's Note:**

> I drew this fic from my own experiences with a different sort of disability.  
> If it in any way strikes you as ableist, I really apologize. That was the opposite of my intent.

With more stealth than he ever bothered with on mission, Bucky stalked up behind Clint as he frowned down at his phone.

When he was right behind him, he said just a little too loudly, “Barton.”  
Clint jumped, and Bucky felt a warm sense of accomplishment. There weren’t a lot of advantages to be The Winter Soldier, but he did rather enjoy his power to startle people. 

Well, most people. He’d never come close to startling The Black Widow, though he kept trying, and Stark and Banner were both too easy to be any fun, but Steve and Sam tended to throw punches, which was a different sort of fun. Clint was perfect though, a challenge to sneak up on and satisfyingly responsive when he did manage it. 

His reaction this time would have been perfect if, as he was swearing and turning toward Bucky, Clint’s phone hadn’t flown out of his hands to land face down on the tiles.

“Shit!” Bucky said at the same time Clint moaned, “Ah, phone, no.”

Bucky bent over to pick the phone back up, and winced when he saw the screen was spiderwebbed with cracks as he handed it back to Clint. 

“I’m so sorry,” he mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it,” Clint said. “Most of these cracks were already there.”

He pushed the button at the bottom of the screen but nothing happened, and guilt twisted a little more in Bucky’s gut. Clint only sighed and tried a button on the side of the phone. 

The screen flickered on for a second, before going black again.

“Is it dead?” Bucky asked.

“No, it just does this sometimes. The battery randomly dies and I have to charge it for a few hours before it’ll come back on.”

“Wow, that sucks. Why don’t you get a new one? In fact, since I did sorta break this one I’d be happy to-”

Clint interrupted him. “No. I don’t want a new one.”

“But it’s broken!”

“No,” Clint said again, now sounding defensive. “It’s not broken. Not really. It just needs a little extra care and it works just fine.”

Carefully, Bucky looked back down at the phone in Clint’s hands and not at the aids in his ears. 

The files on each member of the Avengers that Hydra had set into Bucky’s mind right before his last mission for them had been more thorough than any of them would have been comfortable with, and had included details about their families. Now, Bucky connected some of that information with Clint’s anger over his not quite broken phone and hid a scowl from the picture it painted.

Instead he kept his voice light and nonchalant as he said, “Yeah, but it’s still a bit of a hassle, right? How are you supposed to keep up with everyone if you can’t get on Facebook?”

Clint rolled his eyes, but smiled. “See, that’s how I know you’re an old guy: you’re still on Facebook.”

“What else is there to be on?”

“Oh, man. You don’t even know any other social medias?” 

Bucky, who actually had an Instagram account that Stark’s intern had insisted on setting it up for him and a Tumblr he’d started himself, asked innocently, “Why would there need to be more than one?”

When Clint just shook his head in disbelief, Bucky continued. “Whatever. Still, you need a phone you can count on, and I bet we could get Stark to fix this one up a bit for you.”

Clouds gathered on Clint’s face again. “No, he’ll just try to give me a new one.”

“Not if we make it a challenge that he can’t fix this one.” Bucky said, _and not if I explained why beforehand,_ he thought.

“Huh, you know that might work.”

“Might? He loves a challenge, not that a new screen and a replacement battery would be too difficult.”

Who knew what else Stark would do to the phone while he had it apart, but Bucky didn’t mention that. 

Still, going by the speculative look on Clint’s face, he was thinking something along though lines too. “Okay, I’ll go ask him right now.”

“Great,” Bucky said. “I’ll come too.” 

When Clint raised his eyebrows at that, Bucky explained, “Well, it is my fault you dropped it after all.”

“You know, you’re right. I don’t know why you had to sneak up on me like that anyway.”

“I didn’t sneak up on you,” Bucky lied. “You were just too busy watching PornHub to notice me.”

“Really? You don’t know social media other than Facebook but you know about PornHub?”

Bucky shrugged, “Priorities.” 

Clint burst into laughter, giving Bucky a much warmer glow of accomplishment than making him jump ever had.


End file.
